.G2G4 





^■^°- 







GALV E STO N 



MAJ.-GEN. Q. A. GILLMORE 

U. S. ENGINEERS^ 






" No IJ^JS 6 Ji % 
^'^ ^^'^^- .G^^'^>' 



NEW YORK; 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
1879 






Copyright, 1879, by 
A. & C. BLACK 



Trow's 

Printing and Bookbinding Co. 

905-213 East \^th St., 

MBVr YORK. 



GALVESTON. 



Galveston, a city and port of entry on the 
coast of Texas, United States of North America, 
situated about 340 miles to the westward of the 
mouth of the South Pass of the Mississippi 
River, on the south side of the entrance into 
Galveston Bay, in 29° 18' N. lat. and 94° 47' 
long, west from Greenwich. It is the principal 
port and the largest city in the State, is the seat 
of justice of Galveston County, and is located 
on the inner shore of Galveston Island, about 
2 miles from its most north-easterly point, 
known as Fort Point. The city therefore faces 
the main Texas shore, being separated from it 
by West Bay, lying between the island and the 
mainland. The principal portion of the county 
lies on the mainland fronting the two bays above 
named, its general surface, like that of the is- 
land, being low and level, and the soil sandy. 

Galveston Island is a low sandy island, about 



4 GALVESTON. 

28 miles long and i-J to 3J miles wide, stretch- 
ing along the coast of Texas in a north-easterly 
and south-westerly direction, and forming the 
gulf coast-line throughout its entire length. Its 
surface, which has an average height of 4 to 5 
feet above tide level, is diversified by a number 
of fresh-water ponds and intersected by several 
creeks and small bayous. The beach, on the 
Gulf side, furnishes a smooth and pleasant drive 
during low-water stage, and excellent surf- 
bathing at all times. To the northward of the 
entrance into the harbor, the coast-line is con- 
tinued in the same general direction to the north- 
east by Bolivar Peninsula, a low, narrow sand- 
strip of the mainland, the width of the throat of 
the harbor between Fort Point and Bolivar 
Point being about 2 miles. There is a light- 
liouse on Bolivar Point. 

Galveston Harbor is the finest in the State ; 
and the bay of the same name, including cer- 
tain outlying portions of it known severally as 
East Bay, West Bay, and Turtle Bay, covers an 
area of upwards of 450 square miles of tidal 
water. At the head of the bay, about 35 miles 
from the city in a northerly direction, it receives 
Trinity "River, its largest tributary, while San 



GALVESTON. 5, 

Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou enter it from 
the west 18 miles lower down. 

The mean rise and fall of tide at Galveston is. 
IyV feet, but spring-tides occasionally rise more 
than 3 feet above, and fall nearly two feet be- 
low the plane of mean low water, and fluctua- 
tions between much wider limits are not un- 
common under the influence of heavy winds^ 
During a storm which occurred in October^ 
1867, the water rose 6^^^ feet above mean low- 
water stage, and in September, 1875, it rose in 
some portions of the bay 7 feet, and in others. 
9J feet above the same level. Two years later 
there was a rise of 5^ feet, produced by an on- 
shore wind which reached a maximum velocity 
of 60 miles per hour. The lowest tide of which, 
we have any record fell 3^^^^ feet below mean 
low-water level, thus giving a difference of 12^^ 
feet between the highest and the lowest recorded 
tides. 

A sand bar, produced and maintained by the 
joint action of waves and currents, stretches, 
across, bow-shaped, in front of the entrance 
into the bay, restricting the draught of vessels 
entering the harbor to from 12^ to 13 feet. The 
United States Government has undertaken the 



6 GALVESTON. 

improvement of this entrance by means of two 
jetties, one starting from Fort Point and the 
other from near Bolivar Point, having an aggre- 
gate length of about 7 miles. It is the in- 
tention to carry them out to and beyond the 
crest of the bar on converging lines, so that 
their sea ends, resting in about 18 feet water on 
the outer slope of the bar, will be about i mile 
apart. It is expected that these jetties will cost 
about $2,000,000, and that they will produce 
and maintain a practicable channel depth of 18 
to 19 feet at mean low-water. Once inside this 
bar a draught of fully 20 feet can be carried to 
the wharves of the city. The Bolivar Point 
Jetty, in August, 1879, had reached a length of 
3,000 feet from the shore. That from Fort 
Point had not been carried out so far. The 
peculiar mode of construction adopted for these 
works by the superintending engineer, Major 
C. W. Howell, United States Corps of Engi- 
neers, merits some notice here. The jetties are 
formed with large gabions, or basket-work cyl- 
inders, plastered inside and out with hydraulic 
cement, so as to give a thickness of 5 to 6 inches 
to the cylindrical wall. The gabions are either 
circular, with a diameter of 6 feet, or of an 



GALVESTON. 7 

oval cross section, with diameters of 6 feet and 
12 feet respectively. They are closed at the 
bottom, and are also provided with a tight- 
fitting wooden cover. After being sunk to 
their proper positions in the work, on their 
ends, arranged in a single or double row, they 
are filled with sand pumped up from the bot- 
tom and passed in through a hole left in the 
gabion cover. At first these gabions were 
placed directly upon the bottom, but the action 
of the sea and currents caused so much under- 
scour and settlement, that a foundation of fas- 
cines formed into a mattress and weighted with 
stones was resorted to. On the most exposed 
portions of the works about one-sixth of the 
number of gabions put into position have been 
destroyed by heavy storm-waves, so that this 
method of construction cannot as yet be re- 
garded as past the experimental stage. 

Galveston was first settled in 1837. It is 
handsomely laid out upon ground elevated from 
6^ to 10 feet above ordinary tide level, has wide 
and straight streets, and has several public 
squares, parks, and gardens. The streets run- 
ning parallel to West Bay are known as ave- 
nues, and are designated by the letters of the 



S GALVESTON. 

alphabet, beginning at the bay, while those 
at right angles to the water are numbered. 
Special names are assigned to some of the 
streets. Avenue A, parallej and next to the 
wharf or channel front, is mostly occupied by 
wholesale houses. Next comes Avenue B, or 
" The Strand," and then Avenue C, or Mechanic 
Street, both devoted largely to the wholesale 
business. Avenue D, or Market Street, for 
a distance of seventeen squares, is occupied by 
retail stores, shops, restaurants, hotels, banks, 
etc. This is the main shopping street. Ave- 
nues E and F are of the same character. The 
post-office and United States court-house are at 
the intersection of Avenue F and 20th Street, 
and the custom-house is near by. Avenue J, 
or Broadway, is regarded as the most desirable 
locality for residences. It is 150 feet wide, in- 
cluding an esplanade 36 feet wide through the 
middle, and a 16-foot sidewalk on either side. 
Bath Avenue, at right angles to Broadway, is 
120 feet wide. Fremont, or 23d Street, is the 
principal drive in the city, and is maintained as 
a shell road from "The Strand" to the Gulf 
beach. With the exceptions named, the streets 
are 80 feet and the avenues 70 feet wide, in- 



GALVESTON. 9' 

eluding 16 feet sidewalks, and the blocks or 
squares are uniformly 260 wide and 300 feet 
long, with an alley 20 feet wide running length- 
wise through the middle, along the rear of the 
lots. The portion of the city built over extends 
from about 6th to 40th Streets, and from Ave- 
nue A south to within two to three blocks of 
the Gulf beach. The only streets paved are 
four or five blocks on Avenues B, C, and D. 
They are paved with blocks of heart cypress. 
The same avenues are shelled from between lOth 
to 32d Streets, or thereabouts, with clam shells 
from 18 to 30 inches deep. Trees are planted 
very generally on the outer edge of the side- 
walks, the oleander being the chief growth. It 
frequently attains a height of 20 to 25 feet, and 
grows rapidly from slips with great luxuriance, 
blooming the year round. The fig, orange, the 
black Hamburg and other kinds of grape, and 
many varieties of flowers and evergreen shrub- 
bery, thrive and flourish. Throughout the most 
thickly-settled portions of the city the sidewalks 
are paved with either asphaltum, concrete, brick, 
or German or English tiles. Oleander Park 
embraces 80 acres, and the city park about 25 
acres, and there are three public gardens and 



to GALVESTON. 

six public squares. The business portion of the 
city is built up mostly with brick, and within 
certain defined fire limits the erection of wooden 
buildings is prohibited, 

Among the public buildings, other than 
churches, are a post-ofiice, custom-house. United 
States court-house, a county court-house, a 
county and city prison, a city hall, an opera- 
house, 7 public halls, 2 Hbraries, 2 theatres, 13 
hotels of different grades, and 3 market-houses. 
There are 30 schools of all kinds, 15 church edi- 
fices, a Roman Catholic university or college 
(St. Mary's), a medical school, a convent, a 
house of refuge, an orphan asylum, and 3 hos- 
pitals. The St. Mary's university was founded 
in 1854, and in 1872 had 8 professors and 35 
collegiate and 115 preparatory students. The 
medical school, founded in 1864, had ten years 
thereafter 6 professors. The convent (Ursuline) 
has 25 nuns and a female academy connected 
with it. There are two other female academies 
in the place. There are published in the town 
a number of daily, tri-weekly, and weekly pa- 
pers. Galveston is a bishop's see of the Roman 
Catholic Church. The city is well connected 
by railroad with different parts of the State, and 



GALVESTON. IT 

by regular steamship lines with Liverpool, New 
York, Havana, New Orleans, and the ports of 
Texas. The Galveston, Houston, and Henderson 
Railroad crosses West Bay on a wooden bridge 
2 miles long, and by means of the Galveston 
Wharf Railroad delivers and receives freight at 
the several wharves of the city. The Gulf, Col- 
orado, and Santa Fe Railroad, now building 
from Galveston to Belton, in Bell County, a dis- 
tance of 220 miles, is finished (September, 1879) 
as far as Richmond, a distance of 63 miles, and 
57 miles more to Brenham will be finished by 
January I, 1880. The entire road to Belton is 
to be completed by September, 1 881, This 
road crosses the Brazos Kiver, below Richmond, 
on an iron bridge, and has a wooden bridge of 
its own across West Bay. There are no high- 
way bridges connecting Galveston Island with 
the mainland. 

The cotton business of the place is repre- 
sented by six cotton presses and many immense 
brick warehouses, furnishing storage-room for 
nearly 200,000 bales of cotton, and covering an 
area of more than 50 acres. There are two 
national banks, with an authorized capital of 
$800,000, and a paid-up cash capital of $300,- 



12 



GALVESTO^. 



ooo^ — the aggregate paid-up capital of all the 
banks being upward of $2,000,000. The assessed 
value of real estate in 1878 was over $20,000,- 
000, and the bonded debt $1,200,000. 

Galveston is a healthy city, possesses a de- 
lightful climate, and has not been afflicted with 
an epidemic disease since 1867. 

The following table, giving the temperature, 
the barometric pressure, and the rainfall at this 
place for five years ending June 30, 1878, has 
been compiled from the reports of the Chief 
Signal Office, United States Army : — 



Year ending 


Temperature Fahr. 


Mean Annual 
Barometric 
Pressure. 


Annual 


June 30. 


Highest. 


Lowest. 


Annual 
Mean. 


Rainfall 


1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 


98.5° 

96.0° 
97.0° 


24° 
40» 

K 
30° 


72.8« 
69.6° 
70.9° 
68.7° 
70.2° 


Inches. 
30.051 
30.063 
30.050 
30-073 
29.997 


Inches. 

70.59 
4299 
67.47 



There was only one occasion during the five 
years, and that occurred on the lOth of January, 
1875,. when the temperature fell below 30° F. 

The population of the city was more than 
trebled during the twenty years ending in 1870, 
and the local authorities claim that since 1870 



GALVESTON. 



13 



the rate of increase has been more rapid still, 
and that in 1874 the population had reached 
between 25,000 and 30,000. A municipal cen- 
sus taken in 1876 made the population 35,000, 
which is believed to be too high. The past and 
estimated present population are given below : — 



Year. 


White. 


Colored. 


Total. 




3.469 
6,127 
10,810 


708 
1,180 
3,008 


4,177 

7,307 

13,818 

31,000 






£stinia.ted for 1879 





In the business of receiving and shipping cot- 
ton, the leading production of the Southern 
States, Galveston ranks third in importance 
among the ports of the United States, New 
Orleans and Savannah standing before it, and 
Charleston, Norfolk, and Mobile after it in the 
order named. More than one-tenth of the cot- 
ton crop of the country finds a market through 
the port of Galveston. The following table 
shows the yearly receipts of bales of cotton at 
the six ports above named, for five years ending 
September i, 1879: — 



14 



GALVESTON. 



Ports. 


1878-79. 


1877-78- 


1876-77. 


1875-76. 


I 874-75 • 


New Orleans 

Savannah . . . . , 


1,175,415 
690,901 
573,274 
442,458 
449,888 
362,522 


1,391,55s 
597,449 
454,137 
425,214 
423,128 
414,332 


1,182,357 
477,477 
491,980 
505,932 
442,515 
357,879 


1,401,563 
521,437 
465,529 
469,997 
389,698 
371,298 


6o5',s66 
354,927 
382,387 
413,101 
319,263 


Galveston 


Norfolk 


Charleston ..^ 

Mobile 



The value of imports from foreign countries 
for the two years ending July 31, 1878, was as 
follows : — 





1877-78. 


1876-77. 


Imports of free commodities .... 


$952,713 
194,615 


$1,155,808 


Imports of dutiable commodities 






Total 


1,147,328 


1.357,488 





The leading importations comprise coffee from 
Brazil and Mexico, and manufactured cotton, 
woollen, and iron goods. The duties collected 
during the year ending July 31, 1878, amounted 
to $62,352.73, as against $95,980.49 during the 
previous year. 

The v^lue of domestic commodities, consist- 
ing largely of cotton, oil-cake, cattle, preserved 
meats, bone dust, cotton seeds, and lumber, ex- 
ported to foreign countries during the year end- 



GALVESTON. 



15 



ing July 31, 1878, amounted to $11,963,132, as 
against $15,242,747 for the previous year. 

The number and tonnage of vessels entered 
and cleared at the port of Galveston annually, 
for the six fiscal years ending June 30, 1878, are 
shown in the following tables : — 

COASTING TRADE. 



Entered. 


Cleared. 


Years. 


Number of 
Vessels. 


Tonnage. 


Years. 


Number of 
Vessels. 


Tonnage. 


1877-8 
1876-7 
1875-6 
1874-5 
1873-4 
1872-3 


428 
460 
490 
636 


192,114 
407,382 
435.535 
428,334 
450,830 
569.206 


1877-8 
1876-7 
1875-6 
1874-5 
1873-4 
1872-3 


291 
301 
3" 
531 
315 
422 


291,264 
263,792 
290,956 
285,970 
274,919 
424,848 







FOREIGN TRADE. 






1877-8 


130 


72,585 


1877-8 


135 


82,300 


1876-7 


167 


99,386 


1876-7 


165 


102,744 


1875-6 


177 


85,598 


1875-6 


^9i 


107,192 


1874-5 


167 


99,175 


1874-5 


208 


127,527 


1873-4 


206 


124,316 


1873-4 


241 


145,237 


1872-3 


156 


79,170 


1872-3 


175 


92,998 



The decrease in the number of coasting vessels 
entered and cleared is accounted for in part by 
the fact that the Morgan line of steamers from 
New Orleans, which formerly entered here, now 
proceed up the bay to Clinton with original 



l6 GALVESTON. 

manifest, and make the entry there, merely 
touching at Galveston to land freight, passen- 
gers, and mails. 

The number of documented vessels owned in 
the customs district of Galveston during the 
year ending June 30, 1878, was 197, with an 
aggregate tonnage of 9,310 tons ; built during 
the year, 9, with an aggregate tonnage of 239 
tons ; and lost at sea, wrecked, or abandoned, 
16, with a total tonnage of 387 tons. 



GALVESTON 



BY 

MAJ.-GEN. Q. A. GILLMORE 

U. S. ENGINEERS 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1879 

[ Price 25 Cents. ] 



The Standard Edition of Gladstone's Essays. 



0-lFflnings of JPast "^^nvs. 

CY 

The Right Hon. W, E. GLADSTONE. 



Seven Voltitnes, IGtno, Cloth, per volume, $1.00. 



The extraordinary scope of Mr. Gladstone's learning — the wonder ol 
his friends and enemies alike — and his firm grasp of every subject he 
discusses, make his essays much more than transient literature. Their 
collection and publication in permanent shape were of course certain to 
be undertaken sooner or later; and now that they are so published with v 
the benefit of his own revision, they will need little heralding in England * 
or America. 

What Mr. Gladstone has written in the last thirty-six years — the period 
covered by this collection — has probably had the attention of as large an 
English-speaking public as any writer on political and social topics ever 
reached in his own life-time. The papers which he has chosen as of 
lasting value, and included here under the title of Gleanings of Past 
Years, will form the standard edition of his miscellanies, both for his 

E resent multitude of readers, and for those who will study his writings 
Iter. 



Vol. I. The Throne, and the Prince Consort; 
The Cabinet, and Constitution. 
Vol. II.— Personal and Literary. 
Vol. III.— Historical and Speculative. 
Vol. IV.— Foreign. 

w^l" ,)!' \ Ecclesiastical. 
Vol. VI. ) 

Vol. VII.— Miscellaneous. 

^ *^*Xhe above books for sale by all booksellers^ or -jvill be sent, frepaid, upon 

^ ^eiJ>L,cJ^riee, /jy^ 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. Publishers, 

743 AND 745 Broadway, New York. 



'^^^* ^^ o ^^^^^:^^. 








V . DOBBSBROS. ^^ 

^ ^' A V '^^'-' v^ 

^i. ST^GUSTINE A'^ '^ 
^- '^'^^ FLA. '\ ^ 



''^^W^ 



T>v 



. W 



LIBRARY 




